Nurturing

Noah has discovered his closet. It used to be that he didn't wonder about what was behind those two big white doors in his room - he was happy just to play with the toys in his toy basket or pull books off his shelves or, if he were lucky, sneak into Sam's room to get some of the good toys. But last week, he began opening his closet door and pulling out all the toys hidden in there. We generally keep toys and clothes he has just outgrown or hand-me-downs from Sam that he isn't ready for yet in the closet, but Joy also keeps some of her Kindermusik toys. In the Kindermusik section of the closet rested a baby doll. Sam never showed any interest in the doll and so we never bothered getting it out for Noah.

Big mistake.

Noah found the baby and was instantly smitten. He carried around the baby all morning, feeding it, singing to it, and even demanding a blanket for the doll. Sam, not wanting to be left out, asked for a doll of his own and together the boys happily cared for their babies. Joy, overjoyed at this display of nurturing, decided to call me at work and let me know how loving our children were being toward these dolls. She walked over to the phone but was stopped short by a sound. It was a rhythmic thumping like hollow superballs hitting the ground, but louder. She went to investigate and discovered Sam and Noah gleefully grasping their baby dolls by the ankles and using them as swords to bash each other.

Ah well, at least they are MacGyver-esque in their ability to create weapons out of anything. That's a useful life skill, right?